US teargas arrives in Egypt for Muslim Brotherhood use

Teargas canisters from the United States have been sold to Egypt, arriving on Sunday in the Abadeya port in Suez

A shipment of teargas canisters from the United States arrived at the Egyptian Abadeya Port in Suez on Sunday, according to official documents obtained by the Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper.

Five containers carrying around 140,000 teargas canisters were apparently shipped to the Egyptian Interior Ministry by the Aramex International courier service.

The Egypt Independent reports that the shipping documents state that only the Egyptian government may use the canisters, and that they are forbidden to re-export the shipment or sell it to third parties.

The documents state that the shipment set sail from the port of Wilmington in Pennsylvania on 14 March on board the SS Jamestown. A letter of credit was forwarded without specifying the name of the bank. The Egyptian government paid the freight fees.

In February this year, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported that the Interior Ministry agreed to import teargas canisters for $2.46 million, to be shipped by an Egyptian military cargo plane.

Interior Ministry spokesperson Hani Abdel Latif said that the ministry imported the grenades in order to protect state facilities.

Egyptian authorities have recently used teargas against various demonstrations, including a recent crackdown on protests on Saturday, when demonstrators threw fireworks and reportedly attempted to gain access to a court and the prosecutor-general's office in central Cairo.